Photos courtesy of Cartershots
The Pampa Harvesters (4-0) took part in their annual double-header against Vernon on Saturday. The Harvester bats came alive for 29 hits as the Harvesters rallied in both and won 15-8 and 12-8.
“Our offense in both games really showed up,” Head Coach Austin Samulowitz said. “We combined for 29 hits in those two games. We hit .420 in both games. The offense really showed up.
Juniors Gage Gamblin and Eryk Ballew combined for six innings pitched with five strikeouts between the two. Junior Evan Orand added one more strikeout as the Harvesters won the first game 15-8.
“(Juniors) Gage Gamblin and Eryk Ballew both did a really good job in the first game,” Samulowtiz said. “Vernon had one really big inning, and put up a six-spot in an inning because of walks.
“The kids played good clean baseball and got to work on a lot of small ball and defensive stuff we hadn’t seen yet. It was good to see our offense produce and good see it early too. Normally pitching is ahead of hitting. But it was a good start for us."
The Harvesters got on the board first after an RBI double by Senior Jack Dyer plated Senior Max Neff. Senior Clayton Rogers added an RBI single on a pop fly allowing Senior Boston Botello to come home and extend the Harvesters’ lead to 2-0.
Freshman Austin Hunt and Junior Cy LeBlanc added a couple of RBI base hits to bring home Dyer and Ballew to end the opening frame with a 4-0 lead.
Vernon rallied and ended up taking a 6-4 lead after three. LeBlanc, Neff and Botello loaded the bases to start the fourth. Senior Jaime Soto hit a one-out sac fly to bring home LeBlanc and pull within one of Vernon at 6-5.
The Harvesters retired the Lions in order in the ensuing frame holding the deficit at one. Neff brought the Harvesters to life in the top of the fifth with a two out single scoring Rogers and Hunt and giving the Harvesters the 7-6 lead.
The Harvesters tacked on another run in the inning with an RBI base hit from Dyer to score Botello. The Harvester half of the fifth ended with Pampa leading 8-6.
Vernon got one back in the home half and Pampa led 8-7. Patience was the name of the game in sixth, as Ballew, Gamblin, Hunt, LeBlanc and Neff all drew walks. Botello hit an RBI single Vernon struggled to field and it gave Pampa the 13-7 lead. Later in the inning, Ballew hit a line drive single, plating Soto and giving Pampa the 15-7 lead.
Vernon got one run back before the game was over and Pampa took game one 15-8.
Neff went 2-4 with a run-scored and two RBI while drawing a walk in the first game. He also went 3-5 with a run scored, stole three bases and had three RBI while drawing a walk in the second game.
Max Neff
“Maxwell does a great job leading the game off,” Samulowitz said. “He is one of our guys who makes our offense go. When he is on, our whole offense is on. I like putting him in the lead-off spot because that means he gets the most at bats and the other team doesn’t like seeing him. So we try to turn as many line-ups over to him and get him as many at bats as possible.”
The Harvesters wasted little time getting on the board in Game 2 as Soto hit an RBI line drive plating Neff. Rogers hit a sac fly scoring Dyer, followed by an RBI single from Gamblin to extend the Pampa lead to 3-0 after one.
Vernon countered with a four-run answer in the home half of the first. Vernon extended their lead to 5-3 after two before an RBI single from Rogers pulled Pampa back within one in the top of the fourth.
An RBI single from Neff tied the game for the Harvesters in the top of the fifth, but the back-and-forth game continued in the home half as Vernon tacked on another run.
Pampa tried to create some distance between them and Vernon with an RBI off a sac fly from Rogers and an error allowed Ballew to score. Neff later added a run with a base hit to make it 8-6 Pampa by the middle of the sixth.
Rogers added another single while bases were loaded , followed by a one-out walk from Hunt to give Pampa the 10-6 lead. The Harvesters tacked on two more runs off an RBI walk from Neff and Gamblin scoring on a passed ball to make it 12-6 Pampa.
The Harvesters held on as Vernon tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh, but Pampa took game two 12-8.
“We left at 7 a.m., travel two-and-a-half hours, we get there and it’s 34 degrees and we’ve got 45 minutes to warm up,” Samulowitz said. “I was proud of how we handled the weather, we handled the drive and came from behind in both games. It just goes to show they are a good tough group.”
The Harvesters compete in a tournament at Levelland on Saturday where they will face a stacked slate of teams.
“We play down in the Levelland Tournament on Friday and Saturday,” Samulowitz said. “We play Lubbock-Estacado, Midland Christian, Lubbock Christian and Frenship Memorial. We’ve got a tough slate of games that are really going to test us and push us. We will really get to see who we are this weekend, I think.
"[I’m looking forward to playing] all of them, they are all good baseball programs. There are no easy games this weekend. It’ll be good for our young guys to see what we need to get to.”
Stat Round-Up
Game 1
Junior Gage Gamblin pitched three innings with three hits six runs, five earned runs, five walks and four strikeouts; Junior Eryk Ballew pitched three innings with two hits, one run, one earned run, three walks and one strikeout; Junior Evan Orand pitched one inning with one hit, one run, one walk and one strikeout.
Senior Max Neff went 2-4 with a run scored, two RBI, a stolen bases and one walk; Senior Boston Botello went 4-5 with a run scored and a stolen base; Senior Jack Dyer went 2-5 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI; Senior Jaime Soto had a run scored and an RBI with a sac fly; Junior Eryk Ballew went 1-3 with two runs scored, two RBI, a walk and a stolen base; Senior Clayton Rogers went 3-5 with a run scored, an RBI amd a stolen base; Junior Gage Gamblin had a run scored, three walks and a stolen base; Freshman Austin Hunt had two runs scored, a stolen base and two walks; Junior Cy LeBlanc went 2-4 with two runs scored, two RBI and drew a walk.
Game 2
Senior Jaime Soto pitched four innings with two hits, five runs, three earned runs, seven walks and seven strikeouts; Freshman Austin Hunt pitched three innings, two hits, three runs scored, one walk and three strikeouts.
Senior Max Neff went 3-5 with one run scored, three stolen bases, three RBI and one walk; Senior Boston Botello went 1-6; Senior Jack Dyer went 2-3 with three runs scored and two walks; Soto went 3-5 with two runs scored and one walk; Junior Eryk Ballew had two runs scored and drew four walks; Senior Clayton Rogers went 2-3 with a run scored, four RBI and two sac flies; Junior Gage Gamblin went 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI; Freshman Austin Hunt went 1-2 with a run scored, an RBI and drew three walks; Junior Cy LeBlanc went 1-5 with a run scored and two stolen bases; Evan Orand had a stolen base.